Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect. William Edward Martin, a son of EDWARD GEORGE MARTIN EDWARD GEORGE MARTIN , architect of Cork and Dublin, and brother of EDWARD JAMES MARTIN  EDWARD JAMES MARTIN and probably of JAMES WILLIAM MARTIN JAMES WILLIAM MARTIN , was born in Cork in 1843. He was working for the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in the west of Ireland in the 1860s but had moved to England by 1867. During the 1870s and 1880s he practised in Herefordshire.(1) The English census of 1871 records him as a twenty-eight-year-old architect living in Tillington, Herefordshire, with his wife, Anna Louisa, and a four-year-old son, Edward, who had been born in Middlesex. The 1881 census shows him living in Hereford with his wife, son, and two daughters, Ethel and Maud. When the census was taken ten years later, he was described as a civil engineer, living in Islington with his wife and two daughters; he was still living in Islington in 1901.

Martin is said in his obituary in the Freeman's Journal to have been 'employed at various times in many Continental cities, including Paris, Rheims, and Vienna, in the work of restoration and preservation of the great Continental ecclesiastical edifices' and to have and to have been a regular contributor to the Building News.. Towards the end of his life he returned to Ireland. He died in April 1915 at Round House, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, the home of his son-in-law, ALBERT VICTOR ASHE ALBERT VICTOR ASHE , town surveyor for Tullamore. A plaque in his memory was erected in the Church of Ireland church of St Carthagh at nearby Rahan, which he had been responsible for restoring in 1911-1912.(2)  His widow ded in Dublin on 5 April 1916.(3)

RSAI: elected member, 8 Jul 1863.(4)

Addresses: 49 Grafton Street, 1862-63;(5) 10 Waterloo Avenue, North Strand, 1863;(6) 189 Great Brunswick Street, 1865.(7) Hereford, 1881; Tillington Herefordshire, 1871; 22 Edgar Street, Hereford, 1881; 60 Fairbridge Road, Islington, 1891; 742 Holloway Road, Islington, 1901;  43 High Street (Round House), Tullamore, <=1911(8) until death.

See WORKS (for Irish works only) and BIBLIOGRAPHY. BIBLIOGRAPHY.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise attributed is from the brief obituary of Martin in the Freeman's Journal, 16 Apr 1915 (on which that in IB 57, 24 Apr 1915, 204, is based) and from a letter to IAA, 22 Jul 1994, from Martin's great-granddaughter, Mrs Isobel Chilton, 14 Cotswold Drive, Hereford. Another obituary of Martin (not seen) is in B 108, 23 Apr 1915, 379.


(1)   N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Herefordshire (lst ed., 1963) gives the rebuilding of St Mary's church, Elton, 1876, the church at Bolstone, 1877, and the restoration of the church of St Dubricius, Ballingham, 1884-5, as Martin's work.
(2) The inscription reads: 'To the Glory of God and in memory of William Edward Martin Architect in charge of the restoration of this Church AD 1912. He entered into rest April 15th 1915. This tablet is placed here as a Mark of Gratitude for his skilful & unselfish work.' (Information from James Howley).
(3) Weekly Irish Times, 15 Apr 1916.
(4) JRSAI 7 (1862-63), 339.
(5) Jones transcripts from Thom's directories for 1862 and 1863 (Mrs Chilton gives Martin's address for 1862 as 42 Mount St.).
(6) See note 1, above.
(7) Address on drawing for Moyrus church, Mar 1865, in RCB 26.
(8) Census of Ireland, 1911.


8 work entries listed in chronological order for MARTIN, WILLIAM EDWARD


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Building: CO. MAYO, MULLAFARRY, GLEBE HOUSE (BALLYSAKEERY PARISH)
Date: 1860s
Nature: Minor alterations.
Refs: Signed, undated drawing in Representative Church Body Liubrary, https://archdrawing.ireland.anglican.org/items/show/4648 (last visited, Mar 2017).

Building: CO. MAYO, MULLAFARRY, GLEBE HOUSE (BALLYSAKEERY PARISH)
Date: 1860s
Nature: Addition of porch and bathroom.
Refs: Signed, undated block plan of S front and ground plan, showing addition of porch and bathroom, in Representative Church Body Library, Dublin, GH/18 (information from Siobhán Sexton, Architectural Conservation Officer, Mayo County Council,, Mar 2013).

Building: CO. MAYO, WESTPORT, GLEBE HOUSE
Date: 1862
Nature: WEM thought to be about to start a new glebe house for Rev. R. O'Callaghan.
Refs: B 20, 5 Jul 1862, 474

Building: CO. ROSCOMMON, ATHLEAGUE, GLEBE HOUSE
Date: 1862
Nature: Alts. and adds. superintended by WEM.
Refs: B 20, 5 Jul 1862, 474

Building: CO. GALWAY, BALLYNAHINCH, CHURCH (CI)
Date: 1865
Nature: New. 3-bay with S. entrance porch and bellcote on S slope of W gable.
Refs: Signed contract drawing, dated Mar 1865, and letter from Martin to Welland & Gillespie) in RCB Library, portfolio 26 (NB location is given as Roundstone); Douglas Scott Richardson, Gothic Revival Architecture in Ireland (1983), 539, pl. 384

Building: CO. GALWAY, ROUNDSTONE, CHURCH (CI, MOYRUS PARISH)
Date: 1865
Nature: Design for new? church (3-bay rectangle with S entrance porch and bellcote on S slpe of W gable)
Refs: Drawing signed by WEM and countersigned by Welland & Gillespie, date of contract Mar 1865, also letter from Martin to Welland & Gillespie, in RCB Library, portfolio 26; Douglas Scott Richardson, Gothic Revival Architecture in Ireland (1983), 539

Building: CO. GALWAY, EYRECOURT, CHURCH OF ST JOHN (CI, PARISH OF DONANAUGHTA)
Date: 1867-68
Nature: New. Gothic church on new spite granted by John Eyre of Eyrecourt Castle: 4-bay nave, S entrance porch, tower (not built). Elaborate detail.  Memorial stone laid, 12 Jun 1867 (building had 'commenced some months ago'). Consecrated, 25 Sep 1868. Contractor: Henry Stone.
Refs: Irish Times,14 Jun 1867;  signed contract drawings (date of contract, 5 Aug 1867), in Representative Church Body Library, portfolio 4. see RCB Library - Architectural Drawings, https://archdrawing.ireland.anglican.org/items/show/1026-1054; Adrian Hewson, ed., Inspiring Stones: a history of the Church of Ireland Dioceses of Limerick, Ardfert, Aghadoe, Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmacduagh & Emly (1995), 85(illus.);  exterior illus. in  Clergy of Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert and Kilmacduagh (Ulster Historical Foundation, 2010), 228.  

Building: CO. OFFALY, RAHAN (EDENDERRY), CHURCH OF ST CARTHAGH (CI)
Date: 1911
Nature: Repairs and refurnishing.
Refs: Building News 101, 21 Jul,15 Sep 1911, 73-74, 362-3;  exterior of church illus. in Claude Costegalde & Brian Walker, The Church of Ireland: an illustrated history (2013), 319.

Author Title Date Details
Martin, William Edward 'An ancient Irish parish church' 1911 Building News 101, 15 Sep 1911, 362.